Mimicking the airlines, hotels get fee-happy

[mrsd2006]

It really pisses me off to have to pay for WIFI.

[citrusmint]

$25 to put my water bottle into the hotel's crappy little mini fridge? Are they serious???

And no free wifi is 100% bullshit. I will NEVER pay for wifi at a hotel when I can go to a Starbucks or other coffee shop and get it for free.

I hate being nickel and dimed and it's becoming more and more obnoxious to travel.

[cheezer]

I hate the resort fees. It's a resort, it's already expensive! Just include it in the room.

I also like when the the internet fee is separated from others because I can bill the internet fee to work even when on personal travel but I can't bill an "urban fee". WTF to that anyway.

[mdgirl]

The only thing I wouldn't mind is the added gratuity if I had some kind of assurance that it actually went to the maid who cleaned my room. I'm always scrambling trying to find money for a tip in the room right before I leave for the day, and then I worry that the person doing all the work isn't the one getting it. Coming back to a clean, orderly room every day is one of my favorite parts of traveling!

[lg28]

The wifi thing drives me nuts. Internet now is cheap or free, hotels need to adapt.

[woowoo]

I work for a major hotel company and agree with all the gripes EXCEPT the WiFi. Big hotels are having to spend millions of dollars to continuously upgrade their WiFi. It is a hard cost, just like renovations, but WiFi expectations are growing exponentially. The amount of bandwidth a normal hotel needs has nearly tripled in just a few short years, especially if it has conference/meeting space. Families come to our hotels (especially resorts) and have an average of 8 devices per family of FIVE. Now with apps like Netflix being so main stream, even more bandwidth is required. These are crazy expensive upgrades for hotels to make...and you wouldn't like it if we DIDN'T make these upgrades because your internet wouldn't work. Free WiFi doesn't mean it's good WiFi.

[sunnysally]

Aug 29, 2014 15:31:24 GMT -5 woowoo said:

I work for a major hotel company and agree with all the gripes EXCEPT the WiFi. Big hotels are having to spend millions of dollars to continuously upgrade their WiFi. It is a hard cost, just like renovations, but WiFi expectations are growing exponentially. The amount of bandwidth a normal hotel needs has nearly tripled in just a few short years, especially if it has conference/meeting space. Families come to our hotels (especially resorts) and have an average of 8 devices per family of FIVE. Now with apps like Netflix being so main stream, even more bandwidth is required. These are crazy expensive upgrades for hotels to make...and you wouldn't like it if we DIDN'T make these upgrades because your internet wouldn't work. Free WiFi doesn't mean it's good WiFi.

I understand your argument, but it seems like mid-level hotels offer free WiFi while expensive hotels do not. Does the physical size of the hotel make the upgrades more expensive? 

In general, it seems like more exclusive hotels are more likely to nickel and dime.

[v]

Aug 29, 2014 20:25:19 GMT -5 sunnysally said:

Aug 29, 2014 15:31:24 GMT -5 woowoo said:

I work for a major hotel company and agree with all the gripes EXCEPT the WiFi. Big hotels are having to spend millions of dollars to continuously upgrade their WiFi. It is a hard cost, just like renovations, but WiFi expectations are growing exponentially. The amount of bandwidth a normal hotel needs has nearly tripled in just a few short years, especially if it has conference/meeting space. Families come to our hotels (especially resorts) and have an average of 8 devices per family of FIVE. Now with apps like Netflix being so main stream, even more bandwidth is required. These are crazy expensive upgrades for hotels to make...and you wouldn't like it if we DIDN'T make these upgrades because your internet wouldn't work. Free WiFi doesn't mean it's good WiFi.

I understand your argument, but it seems like mid-level hotels offer free WiFi while expensive hotels do not. Does the physical size of the hotel make the upgrades more expensive? 

In general, it seems like more exclusive hotels are more likely to nickel and dime.

I don't know that it is nickeling and diming so much as knowing and taking full advantage of the fact that their customers are not super cost sensitive (and in the case of business travelers, things like wifi and breakfast are givens that will be expensed) and so they don't need to offer the most inclusive experience for the price in order to compete. Hilton Garden Inn does, or else you may go to Courtyard instead.

It does seem like more and more luxury hotels ARE offering free wifi though.

[Alyssa]

Aug 29, 2014 8:10:14 GMT -5 lg28 said:

The wifi thing drives me nuts. Internet now is cheap or free, hotels need to adapt.

It's not really an issue of adapting, it's just another excuse to get more money out of you.

[Nonny]

I wouldn't mind paying $2/bag for a hotel to hang onto my luggage for a few hours, because that doesn't seem entirely unreasonable. But fucking resort fees where they want to charge you $15/day for the pool and gym, which I don't even use, is infuriating. I complained about them the last time I was in Vegas because the fees were actually more than I was paying in hotel taxes, which was asinine. (And the pool was closed for renovations so I couldn't have used it even if I wanted to!) He took off 50% of them which is better than I thought I would get.

[stephm0188]

Parking fees at hotels also piss me off.

[daisypaloma]

I'm so used to it I actually get surprised when I see free water bottles at hotels now.

Vegas hotels are notorious with their resort fees, which usually takes us back $20-$25.  We did get away with it once by using Priceline's "Name Your Own Price".

I hardly book hotels that charges wifi.  Then I go further and look for hotels that offer free parking, unless it's in cities like NYC. 

I always double-check to see if there's extra charges for leaving our luggage and early check-in/late check-outs. 

If there's a stocked fridge I don't even bother.  I just fill up an ice bucket and put our drinks/perishables there.

I do agree through my recent researches that more expensive hotels tend to nickel and dime more than the lower end hotels.